Ruben Volt seals Monza redemption with first TCR Europe win
Ruben Volt had the perfect redemption from throwing away his pole position advantage in TCR Europe Race 1 at Monza by winning Race 2 from tenth on the grid.
The ALM Motorsport driver was fastest by a big margin in qualifying, but at the start of Race 1 fell from first to 13th after failing to get away from the grid and went on a strong recovery drive to finish fourth.
In Race 2 he kept out of trouble on the opening lap to rise from tenth to seventh, while Giacomo Ghermandi held on to his reversed-grid pole advantage despite multiple attacks from Tom Coronel. Briefly Viktor Andersson got himself into second before dropping to fourth behind Comtoyou Racing pair John Filippi and Coronel.
Filippi led the quartet down to turn one at the start of lap two, and he started weaving on the straights in an attempt to break the tow to team-mates Nicola Baldan and Coronel.
On lap three Coronel moved into the lead by cutting the first chicane, and although he did let Filippi back through he then immediately passed him again at the della Roggia chicane. Baldan followed him through at Lesmo 1, while Volt was pressuring Andersson for fourth. At the very back of the field was Ghermandi, who had an issue with his car that sent him pit-bound at the end of the lap.
Coronel went from first to third on lap five as Baldan and then Volt passed him, and the new top two quickly broke away. But then everyone closed back up after Baldan’s defences against Volt at the final corner on lap six slowed both down.
Volt still had the benefit of the slipstream and was just ahead as they started lap seven, but he then cut the opening chicane. That meant the safe thing to do was drop back behind Baldan within the lap, and at the Ascari chicane Baldan pulled off a strong move to get back ahead.
Following that there were still three laps to go for Volt to earn his first victory of the season (and podium), and on lap eight he went around the outside of Baldan at the final corner then pulled away to win.
Baldan and Coronel completed the podium, and MA:GP’s Viktor Andersson passed Filippi at turn one on the penultimate lap to take fourth place.
The TCR Europe finale takes place in Barcelona on October 20-22.
